Landing Gear
Landing gear needs to be deployed before you try to dock on a landing pad. If the landing gear is not deployed when you are near the landing pad you will receive an audible warning from the ship's computer. Failure to deploy the landing gear before docking can damage, or even destroy, the ship.
You are able to assign a button or key command to control the landing gear. This is done via the client control options. The default setting is the "G" key.
Deploying landing gear in normal flight will decrease the speed of the ship. You cannot deploy the landing gear whilst in supercruise mode, or during hyperspace when travelling to other systems.